i'm trying to access my sparcstation from my pc using hyperterminal. before i had no problems what so ever, but now for some reason i can't type when in hyperterminal after i connect. i can see the console while the sparc is booting and even get the login prompt, but i can't type. i also am not getting the OK prompt before i start the sparc. i remember i used to get that before. i think the problem is from the pc side not the sparc side. anyone have any ideas why this could be ? thank you very much. any help is greatly appreciated.

It might be the serial cable connecting the computers together. If the transmit (ref the PC) wire was broken you would see the receive messages from the Sparc but you couldn't type anything.

Have you changed anything on either computer lately?

The serial port on either the Sparc or the PC might be bad too. A loopback plug would verify the serial ports. What you type in hyperterminal will be echoed back.

http://www.jspayne.com/io/schematics.html

Or the Sparc does not echo characters back and you changed the settings in hyperterminal.

nope haven't changed anything recently. same serial port, same null modem. i have a db25 to db25 which i am using as the null modem. here are the pin mappings. let me know if i'm wrong.

db25-db25

14 ->14
20 -> 20
15 -> 16
16 -> 15

Are you counting from pin 1? The min number of pins you need is:
2 - 3
3 - 2
7 - 7

Pin 1 on a female connector is on the right most socket of the longest row.
Pin 1 on a male connector is on the left most pin of the longest row.

You might also need 4,5, and 20.

thanx for all of your help. i got it to work. i just have one last question. from what i recall on a sparc "stop+A" is the same as "break+A" through a null modem setup right? once again thanx.